Write a CDR Report
Introduction
This section provides instructions for compiling a Competency Demonstration Report (CDR). The CDR assessment is based primarily upon the undergraduate qualification and demonstrated graduate competencies (refer to Appendix).
Applicants need to provide documentary evidence of BOTH:
• The core technical engineering knowledge supporting the nominated occupation AND;
• The demonstrated application of that knowledge in the nominated occupation.
The CDR must be all your own work. All typed components of the CDR must be done using a word processor and you are strongly advised to keep a copy.
Your CDR will be assessed against the graduate competency standards and the ANZSCO definition of the occupational category nominated by you.
Components of the CDR assessment
1. Personal Information
Passport style photo: You are required to provide a clear and current passport-style photograph of yourself.
Prime ID: You will need to provide your current passport bio-data page (not the entire passport) and English language translation where applicable. Where this is not available a scan of your Birth Certificate and/ or National Identify Card may be acceptable in lieu.
Name change documentation: If your current name is not the same as that on your academic documents, you must provide evidence of your name change. This may include a gazette publication, an official letter/ certificate issued by registry.
Curriculum Vitae (CV)/ Résumé: A full summary of your engineering education and work experience is required. Your CV must be a complete record of your activities and must even include any periods of inactivity. The CV is to be a chronological listing of employment, not projects.
Your CV should be no more than three A4 pages.
For each workplace provide:
• organisation name and location, including contact details
• dates and duration of employment
• title of position occupied by you
• your defined role (provide a duty or appointment statement where available) and/or a brief description of your activities
English Language Competency: Applicants applying to have their skills assessed by Engineers Australia are required to provide evidence of their English language competency. See Item 2 of Section A for full details of the English competency requirements.
2. Application Information
Engineering Occupation: You must select the engineering occupation in which you are seeking assessment. Please note, an outcome is not guaranteed in the nominated occupation and will be determined upon assessing. For further information on ANZSCO occupations, please refer to the Australian Bureau of Statistics website: www.abs.gov.au
Registration: You will need to upload any evidence of your professional registration if applicable.
3. Education
You must provide your degree certificate and official academic transcript. If you have more than one engineering qualification, all relevant additional qualifications must be provided. If you are currently enrolled in any formal educational program, please upload your enrolment letter and current transcript if 18 available.
4. Employment
For the Relevant Skilled Employment, any claimed work experience over 12 months must be supported by documentary evidence See Item 3 Section D. However, for career episodes based upon engineering experience, documentary evidence of employment must also be provided regardless of the duration of employment.
If the documentary evidence of your work experience is not in the English language, you will be required to provide a translation. All translations must be carried out by an authorised translator (see Item 4 Section A).
Documentary evidence in support of work experience claims must be on a company letterhead (including name and location details) and include the date of document, dates and duration of employment in addition to the name and position of author.
5. The Report
This section includes the Continuing Professional Development, three Career Episodes and Summary Statement.
Identification of Continuing Professional Development:
Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is the means by which you keep up-to-date with developments in your field of engineering after you have gained your undergraduate qualification.
All relevant CPD must be included in your CDR application. This CPD must be provided in list format (title, date, duration, and venue) and may include details of:
• formal post-graduate study;
• conferences at which you have delivered papers or attended;
• short courses, workshops, seminars, discussion groups, technical inspections and technical meetings you have attended;
• preparation and presentation of material for courses, conferences, seminars and symposia;
• services to the engineering profession (volunteer work, board or committee volunteering, mentoring, etc.);
• private study (includes books, journals, manuals, etc.).
Your CPD listing must not be more than one A4 page.
It is not necessary to include certificates from each course.
Writing your Three Career Episodes:
A career episode is an account of your engineering education and/or work experience. Each career episode focuses upon a specific period or distinct aspect of your engineering activity. Each career episode must focus on a different period or aspect of your engineering activity. Each episode should focus on how you applied your engineering knowledge and skills in the nominated occupation.
You may base your career episode upon:
• an engineering task undertaken as part of your educational program;
• a project you have worked on or are currently working on;
• a specific position that you occupied or currently occupy (in this case, the career episode must comprise more than a mere duty statement);
• a particular engineering problem that you were required to solve.
Each career episode must be written in English, in your own words and will act as evidence of your communication skills to your assessor.
Do not present large amounts of technical material. It is recommended that each narrative be a minimum of 1000 and maximum of 2500 words.
Each career episode must clearly demonstrate the application of engineering knowledge and skills in the nominated occupation. That is, state what you did and describe how you did it, emphasising your own personal role in episode (for example I designed, I investigated etc.) Please do not include excessive technical details (photos, calculations, tables).
Each career episode should emphasise any engineering problems identified by you and any particular problem solving techniques you applied. The purpose of this is to assess your personal contribution in meeting project and task objectives.
You must number each paragraph in each of your career episodes. This is necessary to construct the Summary Statement. The following system is recommended:
Career episode 1 (paragraphs 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 etc.)
Career episode 2 (paragraphs 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 etc.)
Career episode 3 (paragraphs 3.1, 3.2, 3.3 etc.)
Career episode format
Each career episode should be in essay form and not
formatted into a table.
Each career episode should follow the format below:
a) Introduction (approx. 100 words)
This introduces the reader to the career episode and should include such things as:
• the chronology - the dates and duration of the career episode;
• the geographical location where the experience was gained;
• the name of the organisation;
• the title of the position occupied by you.
b) Background (200-500 words)
This sets the scene and provides the context in which you have been studying/working. It should include such things as:
• the nature of the overall engineering project;
• the objectives of the project;
• the nature of your particular work area;
• a chart of the organisational structure highlighting your position, in relation to the career episode;
• a statement of your duties (provide an official duty statement where available).
c) Personal Engineering Activity (500-1000 words)
This is the body of the narrative and the key assessable component. In this section you must describe in detail the actual work performed by you. You should state what you did and then describe how you did it. It is not sufficient to describe the activities performed by a team or group - your own role must be clearly identified. Remember it is your own personal engineering competencies that are being assessed.
This section should include such things as:
• how you applied your engineering knowledge and skills;
• the tasks delegated to you and how you went about accomplishing them;
• any particular technical difficulties/problems you encountered and how you solved them;
• strategies devised by you including any original or creative design work;
• how you worked with other team members.
d) Summary (50-100 words)
This section sums up your impressions of the engineering activity and your role in it. It should include such things as:
• your view of the overall project;
• how the project fared in meeting the goals / requirements;
• how your personal role contributed to the project.
5.2.3 Preparation of the Summary Statement
The elements for each occupational category are listed in the following pages. The Appendix gives a detailed description of each competency element for each category.
Once you have completed your career episodes you must analyse them to ensure you have addressed all the competency elements for the nominated occupational category.
The results of your analysis will be demonstrated in your Summary Statement. The Summary Statement cross-references the competency elements with the particular paragraph in your Career Episode where each element occurs. To do this, you will need to number the paragraphs in your career episodes.
You must download and complete the appropriate summary statement for your nominated occupational category.
The summary statement templates are available on the website. These are guides only. Do not attempt to restrict your Summary Statement to one page only.
You do not need to cover all the indicators within each competency element. Please note that only one Summary Statement is required for all three episodes.